'This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!'

Many people in Florida say spring officially arrives when the pro baseball teams return for the Grapefruit League. Others figure the state fair or Plant City's infamous Strawberry Festival signals the beginning of the season.

Here at the Stuck in the 80s corporate headquarters, we use a different barometer to determine springtime -- when the poolwater is warm enough for skinny-dipping. And as of 6:13 p.m., Feb. 21, it's spring, baby, it's spring!

No, those weren't the Space Shuttle's sonic booms you heard last night. It was the sound of watery cannon balls echoing throughout northeast St. Petersburg.

Nobody appreciates a quick dip au natural like an '80s fan. Because, with due respect to the 1960s, the '80s are all about this wonderful hobby.

TOP 10 SKINNY-DIPPING SCENES FROM THE 80s:

10. SPLASH (1984): Daryl Hannah is a mermaid. You figure out the rest. "What you looking at? You never seen a guy who slept with a fish before?"

9. THE BLUE LAGOON (1980): Brooke Shield's timeless line: "You're always staring at my buppies!"

8. FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982): Phoebe Cates isn't actually in the water, but who's complaining. "Hey, you guys had shirts on when you came in here."

7. SECRET OF MY SUCCESS (1987): Michael J. Fox is seduced by "Aunt Vera" (Margaret Whitton) to the tune of the "Jaws" theme. "What's my mother going to say? I've disgraced my whole family!"

6. COCOON (1985): Steve Guttenberg has a close encounter of the nude kind. "If this is foreplay I'm a dead man!"

5. SUMMER LOVERS (1982): Daryl Hannah (again!), Peter Gallagher and Valerie Quennessen prove three's company after all. "Making love to you is like riding a horse."

4. CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD (1986): William Hurt and Marlee Matlin in the artsiest scene in this list. "Sarah... Sarah! I am falling... into the pool with you!"

3. BLAME IT ON RIO (1984): Michael Caine, you dirty dog. Michelle Johnson was old enough to be ... well, she was old enough. "You only live once, but it does help if you get to be young twice."

2. RECKLESS (1984): Daryl Hannah (hey you!) and Aidan Quinn hold impromptu swim team tryouts -- at midnight. "Forget it! I'm not that drunk... well, not yet!"

1. VACATION (1983): Chevy Chase and Christie Brinkley. No nudity, but great comedy. "It's too bad you're married... I'm in the mood for some fun!"

Honorable mention -- PURPLE RAIN (1984): Apollonia has to purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. "That ain't Lake Minnetonka."

Comments

[Marissa]

Here in the Midwest The Forth of July marks the first day of Spring... or so it seems that is when we'll get a touch of warmth. ACK!

Being the late bloomer that I was, my first dip sans suit didn't take place until the 00's.

In the 80s, I remember watching USA UP! All Night with Rhonda. I know plenty of those flicks were filled with teen-age shenanigans taking place all nakey like in a pool. I just can't remember a blasted one. Coffee! Stat!

[Tonianne]

Ah, Summer Lovers. The ultimate guilty pleasure.

The first R-rated movie I snuck into...The reason Greece became my destination of choice...The reason I flirted with making archeology my major...The reason the "Best of Lime" is in constant rotation on my iPod (despite being mocked relentlessly for it)...The reason olive oil...er...Never mind.

[Jeff in Cuba]

It just so happens that the lovely Harriot in Cuba is a skinny-dip aficionado. On military bases, however, it's not always a convenient hobby (see Jessica Lange in "Blue Sky"). She's had the opportunity to discuss her predilection with the MPs at least once.

And since it's skinny-dip weather year-round down here (92 yesterday), I never know when I might find her treading water wearing nothing but the Caribbean.

[Douglas Arthur]

hmmm
i skinny dipped once or twice. My first job was at a country club washing dishes and doing food prep in the kitchen, so we were usually the first ones in and the last ones out for the day. I quite often closed which meant 1 or 2 am during the summer, so i would sometimes hop in the pool for a quick swim before going home...it helped take some of the "kitchen stink" off me too! I usually wore my shorts, but there were a few times I bared it all...no one else was around, thank God, but there was always a chance that the cops would be doing a drive-by. fortunately the way the club was situated, it had a very long driveway, so you could always see them coming a long way off.
Spring has to be dragged kicking and screaming in up here, and doesn't really hit full stride until the end of April

[Spears]

"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" was on my iTunes this morning -- obviously reminding me of the ending of Summer Lovers.

I need to own it on DVD - stat!

[jane]

I may need to give Cocoon another viewing, after seeing that pic of the delightfully hirsute Mr. Gutenberg... I usually only watch it to play "I know where that scene was filmed," as Ron Howard shot it right here in St. Pete and it's full of places I'm familiar with.

I don't even remember the scene in discussion here... how sad is that.

[jane]

As long as we're telling skinny dip stories -- I was a pool lifeguard the summer between high school and college. Worked the late shift, with the closing up responsibilities. And sometimes, it was just easier to do things au natural. Good times, good times.

[Jeff in Cuba]

Tonianne,

Greece is one of the places Harriot has skinny-dipped.

There are a lot of push-pins in that particular world map.

[Tonianne]

Jeff,
The DH's first words while deplaning in Athens back in '91? "Great, I'm back in Kuwait."
And the 2 weeks spent island hopping around the Cyclades were to soften the news that Ft. Sill would be home for 2 years.
Beat Navy ;-)

[Brad]

Ft. Sill? Whatchoogotagainst Lawton, Oklahoma?

[Tonianne]

Brad - you mean apart from the tornados, rattlesnakes, brown recluses and non-stop Garth Brooks radio?
The people there were great, though. And I saw some of the most intense sunsets of my life while mountain biking through Mt. Scott (when buffalo weren't blocking the trails).

[Jeff in Cuba]

We spent two years in the Greek islands, and I'll admit I never really enjoyed my occasional trips to Athens, although I've been told it was spruced up quite a bit for the Olympics in '04.

[Movie_Dearest]

You forgot "A Room With a View", one of the funniest and unexpected skinny dipping scenes in movies ever.

- kch